To mark the upcoming October 19th meeting of DFEY-NW I have written a short essay about what I think DFEY exists for and why it came into being.

DFEY stands for "Digital Freedom in Education and Youth" - what that actually means in practise I'll get to in a second.

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When you think of the word "freedom", the first thing you probably think of is freedom of speech - the freedom to say what you want to say, when you want to say it, where you want to say it.

There are various groups and non-profit organisations commited to preserving various aspects of freedom in a digital world;

• The Free Software Foundation campaigns to keep software free of restrictions which prevent the user adapting the software to their own purpose as opposed to business models that rely on restrictive licences to curtail the user's freedom to adapt the software.
• The Open Rights Group campaigns to keep data and content free, and in the hands of the the end users - as opposed to those who are likely to abuse it.
• Open Street Map is a project to create a detailed digital map of the United Kingdom through individuals mapping their local areas using their own handheld GPS devices.

These are just some examples of the many organisations who advocate and explore the concept of using freedom to create 'cool' things in the digital world.